New World, New Friends, New Life!
by DrIce
Summary: A young boy from our world wakes up to find the world of Kingdom Hearts merging with his own. Along the way he meets a girl, also caught between the two worlds. Can they really figure out just what is happening?
1. Awake

Co-authored by Ms. Lovett and DrIce

The sound of television snow/static filled the early morning air, and seemed to grow louder with each passing second. On the bed across the room from the television, a young man stirred but did not awake. He had gone to sleep with the light on for the first time in years, but not because he was afraid of the dark. He had been up late playing a new game until he cleared every last level. The sound of the "snow" on TV finally jarred him awake.

"Wuh, wuzzat?" he mumbled to himself, noticing how he fell asleep with the TV on.

_That's weird, where'd the game go? And why is my light off?_

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and rubbed his eyes to try and finish waking up. It was so dark everything had a sort of grayscale tone to it, which he thought was strange.

_Ugh! What time is it?_

"Hey mom! Why didn't you wake me up? I've got school you know!" he called out, but didn't hear a response. Then, he looked over at the clock. There were no numbers flashing on the display.

_I guess the power's out_.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The TV finally caught his attention again, as if it was angry he hadn't paid attention to it.

He said to himself, starting to feel apprehensive, "If the power's out, how's my TV on?"

With a shove, he hops off the bed and goes over to shut off the power knob. It's already in the off position.

_Why was I expecting that?_ he thought blandly

Another crackle issued from the speakers, and the screen went black except for a few miniscule words. He had to press his face to the screen to read them:

_**Choose a path and do your duty...**_

As the young man is scratching his head, the screen turns off with an especially violent hiss. The screen goes totally black, and he can see himself reflected in the glass. His icy blue eyes stare back at him and provide stark contrast to the inky black hair that covers his head. One strand of purest white at the very front however, hangs down over his forehead. He brushes it aside, and gets up from crouching in front of the TV.

_I've got to be dreaming still. This is pretty dumb…_

He turns back to his bed, and lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. There were three strange objects on his bed that _definitely_ weren't there before he got up. A shining sword gleamed at the foot of his bed, next to a well polished magical looking staff. Lying across his two pillows was a large shield.


	2. Preparations OR Moving On

Co-Authored by Ms. Lovett and DrIce

He walked very slowly back to his bed and approached the three objects.

_This is too weird. None of my dreams are this realistic._

Being closer to the foot of his bed, he cautiously extended a hand to grab the sword's hilt. When he very nearly touched it, a strong vision struck him:

_He was standing in a place permeated with darkness. He couldn't even see his own body. After what seamed like an eternity, but was probably only an instant, he heard a piercing scream, a sickening **thud**, and then a sword identical to the one in his room seemed to hang in the air in front of him. The blade was unevenly stained crimson with fresh spilt blood, and the sight horrified him. He cried out in protest and found himself back in his room, although he had backed far away from his bed._

"N-no way. No way am I taking the sword" he managed to say, shaking all over. He turned next to that strange wand or staff or whatever it was on the middle of his bed. He approached this item more warily than the sword, and rightfully so! As he watched it, the staff frosted over with ice, glowed red hot, and finally crackled and sparked with arcs of electricity.

"That's some arcane magic stuff! I've read enough to know not to mess with things as powerful as this staff must be. Better not take it."

As he said this, the staff seemed to shimmer for a moment out of focus, and then he lost sight of it, like his eyes were unable to focus on that space.

"This leaves…"

_The shield_

He put one arm over his face in a futile attempt at protection as he reaches out with a finger and pokes the last item left. When his finger makes contact with the cold, smooth, metallic surface a noise like a loud gong sounds and he shivers. A gleam of light runs over the shield from an unknown source.

_Hmmm, the lights are still out. Where'd that come from?!_

He is struck suddenly by a thought so alien and strange it couldn't have been his own:

_Gather your things and leave… before you too fade…_

"Huh? Fade what?!"

Nevertheless, he found himself grabbing his red speaker-backpack and filling it with supplies in a trance-like state. He had gathered 3 changes of clothes and an extra pair of sturdy boots without even realizing it. Curiously, he grabbed his personal music player and had a deep-seated feeling that it was going to be important, and not to forget it.

_Wonder if it even works. It should, it runs on batteries._

He hooked it up to his backpack and turned the built-in speakers to a low level. He had not pressed play or even selected a song when one immediately started issuing, _loudly_. The strange part was that it played one or two lines of a song, and then shuffled to another. It didn't even start at the beginning of each song either. It was completely random, or so he thought:

_"We were made to live for so much more, have we lost ourselves?"_

_"It was an honest mistake"_

_"It's just one of those days"_

_"Lost sight of all you ever dreamed of, the forces swept you away"_

"_Hey there, I know it's hard to feel"_

_"I feel it; this tension inside of me, pressure is presently pushin' down on me"_

"_Is it worth it? Can you even hear me?"_

_"I wonder why I never wonder why"_

_"I just need to re-align" _

"_Be other-worldly, count your blessings"_

_"It's the reason, why I'm here"_

_"I've spent too much time alone; I've got to find some place to go"_

"_I took a walk to ease my troubled mind" _

"_I know it feels like we're never coming back" _

"_What is this world that we see…Today, where do we go from here, without fear, without harmony?"_

Finally, the strange musical episode ended as abruptly as it had started.

"Waaaay too messed up for words, like someone or something is trying to talk to me through my music! Better grab some extra batteries for this thing then."

He knew he was alone in the house but the total quiet unnerved him. IT seemed like the whole world just stopped. After grabbing his backpack and filling it the rest of the way with food and snacks, he set it by the front door. He bounded back to his room to grab the shield and study it more closely.

Before, it had seemed lustrous and shiny. Now, it was a bit dull. He hefted it in his hands and it felt as if it was the most natural thing, like he was born to hold it. He went to look in a mirror and fix his hair, and realized he was still in his pajamas. "Ugh, gotta change before I leave. Somethin tells me I better get going soon"

He sprinted back to his room, tore off his pajamas and threw on whatever was in his closet. Curiously, he didn't remember having these particular items of clothing before. The pants he found for himself were baggy black cargoes with lots of pockets and loops of chain holding them closed. The shirt just a regular long-sleeved T, but it was in such a stunning blue it almost hypnotized him. Somewhere deep in his mind he knew it matched his eye color perfectly, but he didn't dwell on it.

"These will do. Time to leave."

He grabbed his backpack and buckled the shield on his right arm, and stepped outside. A sense of loneliness and dread filled him, like he was the last survivor of some forgotten Apocalypse. Shaking off this notion he randomly started walking in the direction of his school where he would have gone today anyway, had this been any other normal day.

"Maybe someone else is there to tell me what's going on." His voice had a hollow echo-ish quality to it, which unnerved him again. It was like the very air itself was different.

Not far down the street he saw a few downed streetlights and in the distance, some seemingly abandoned cars. Hugging the shield closer to him, he approached the nearest car. A thick palpable darkness seethed and writhed in the "empty" car. Against his gut feeling, he pressed his face to the window glass to try and see inside, when something thumped hard against the window, almost sending him sprawling backwards. Next, a pair of animal yellow eyes somehow defined themselves out of the darkness. The eyes met his gaze for an instant, and then the window glass shattered and out poured these things! With the fluid motion of liquid shadows, the eyes and darkness squeezed out of the car and formed into little nightmare creatures. They might have been almost cute looking had it not been for the terrifying circumstances. They had ant-like qualities, waving their antennae around and swarming together with seemingly one mind.

"Aaaaaah! Nooooo!" He raised his shield, but the creatures were undeterred. They swarmed around him and enveloped him in a thick cloud of darkness.

Weakly he cried out, but couldn't even hear his own voice. The darkness seemed to cover his mouth and nose, and he found it difficult to breathe. The dark was everywhere and he was deathly afraid. The last thing he remembered was a single tiny point of light cutting through the darkness in front of him, but then he could hold out no longer. He blacked out completely.


	3. Lina

**Co-authored by Ms. Lovett and DrIce**

**A/N: Thanks for all the support, there'll be more chapters to come as soon as possible. # 4 is currently being finalized**

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"Hey! Hey person, wake up. I save you and this is the thanks I get?" A young girl poked his head with a short, delicate finger. She sighed exasperatedly and sat back on her heels, taking a quick look around to see if any of those things she just burned up were coming back. The girl was short, around five-two, and had a slight Hispanic cast to her eyes and skin, with curly dark-brown hair that fell to her waist.

A groan of pain came from the form lying next to her on the pavement, and he shook his head. "Where'd you come from?" he mumbled drowsily, putting a hand out to reach for his shield, finding it right next to his where he had fallen, but also noticing that he had a bandage on his elbow.

"I'm Lina, Lina Menzet. I just saved you from those things, so don't go bashing my skull in."

"How d-did you…?"

" I found this…" she said, showing him a staff that was about as tall as she was that had designs of fire, leaves, water, and wind winding up it, interrupted only by a small grip in the center that looked like it rotated.

"…Leaning against my door when the phone woke me up this morning. I thought it was a cosplay thing my sister had made, but when I picked it up and started yelling at her to come get it, it shocked me! It shot a line of what looked like lighting on the wall and it **wrote**! I didn't move it at all, but the stupid thing burned a message into my bedroom wall. At the same time as it was writing, a voice spoke in my head that sounded like the wind. It was so weird. It said '_Go. Now, He needs your help._' I started packing some stuff; bandages, disinfectant, a first aid kit, clothes and that kind of thing into my backpack. Then noticed it was dark, really dark. Also, my sister hadn't come when I yelled at her...I got freaked out, considering that my sister can't sleep through a sneeze from a flea."

The boy laughed and smiled at her, still on the ground.

She continued, "Then the voice in my head came back, louder now, like it was yelling and said 'GO!'. I was outta there. I saw you get swarmed by those creepy black things, and I closed my eyes and made the lightning come out this time. I hit one of them and they all scattered. When they left I saw your elbow was bleeding where you fell, so I put disinfectant on it a cleaned it up. My mother was/is a nurse, so pretty much the one thing I'm good at is fixing wounds." She smiled expectantly at him.

"So, um, Lina. What do we do now?" he asked her, sitting up and for the first time recognizing who she was.

_Yep, it's her . Lina…Her name's kind of musical almost. Wow! _he thought, his eyes going a bit unfocused as he sat there looking at her, smiling.

"I have no idea. I got sent to you, not the other way around, so I think you're playing leader for a while." She said matter-of-factly, slinging her beat-up green backpack over one shoulder and offering him a cut-off gloved hand. "Blaze the trail."

He sat there stupidly for a moment, just looking at her. He finally got a chance to talk to her, and now he didn't even have the guts to take her hand.

He knew Lina from school. She sat in front of him for most of their classes, and ever since she moved to town his grades had been slipping lower and lower. Mostly, because he spent most of the class time gazing at her, trying to read her thoughts and working up the nerve to ever talk to her. He had fallen pretty hard for her, and she didn't have a clue.

Desperately trying to think of something witty to say, he took her hand and managed to stammer, "W-well, my name's Oleander Snow."

As soon as he said this, he looked away. "I know it's a dumb name. My parents were mean…"

He looked to Lina hopefully, almost with puppy-dog eyes. "You can call me Olly if you want to, or just Snow like everybody else"

_Real smooth Casanova…now she thinks you're a dweeb._

"Snow...snow sounds cool" she said, smiling a bit, and tilting her head to one side.

He dusted himself off, and then scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "Well, I was headed to our school anyway. I have a feeling we'll find something there." he said shivering. "I just hope we don't run into any more of those… _things._"

"That's for sure," she said, looking around warily. "I'm not too sure if I can do that lightning thing again" Lina blushed; she didn't like having people know she was skittish, or weak. "So umm, can I come with you?" She said blushing again and looking at a nearby building. She didn't like being portrayed as needy either.

Snow looked confused for a second. "Didn't you just say 'Blaze the trail'? Let's head off then. This way!"

He points the way, and grabs his shield, holding protectively it in front of him. He walked next to Lina, every once and a while sneaking glances at her when his visual sweep for nightmare creatures turned him that way.

_What are the chances that when somethin weird happens, she'd show up, like she was sent to me…? Especially since I have the biggest crush on her…_

As the thought struck him, Snow said, "Hey Lina, when you woke up this morning, you didn't happen to see a sword or shield like mine lying around did you?"

"I don't think so. Why? Did you? I think that I was picked for being this one thing. It would be the only thing I'm good at anyway." She kept pace with Snow, scanning the horizon as well. Something just didn't seem right.

Suddenly, Snow stopped short and Lina bumped into him. He motioned for her to be quiet, and they stood huddled together alert for anything amiss. Next, out of nowhere, a small black shadow appeared on the ground in front of them.

"It must be one of them" he whispered to Lina.

"Should I try to zap it?" Lina said, under her breath.

Smiling, Snow raised a hand to tell Lina to stay behind him. "I'll get this one. How bad could they be by themselves?"

_Now's my big chance to impress her, to show her I'm brave too. Here goes nothing!_

The shadow formed itself into that same type of ant-like creature that attacked had Snow before. When it was fully formed it tilted its head to one side like a dog, looking at the two travelers with its glowing yellow eyes. Its antennae quivered for a second, and then there was a sound of rushing wind, followed by a resounding** thud **echoing off the buildings around them.

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**A/N: I apologize if the tenses are a bit off. The way we wrote this, they may have gotten a bit buggy or awkward, but I hope I got them fixed while proofreading.**


	4. The Secret's Out!

**DISCLAIMER: The song lyrics you have been noticing are the property of the artists, not me, unless I inform you otherwise. Thank you.**

**A/N (DrIce says): So far from my heart and Stuck on repeat are MINE! I wrote them and I'm very proud of them.**

**We now continue our random battle, already in progress...**

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Snow had crept up to the creature, poked it once tentatively, and then bashed it to the ground with his shield. Lying on the ground after the vicious assault, the creature faded into a round shadow again and dispersed.

_Now where'd it go? Did I kill it?_ Snow thought to himself nervously as he looked around, waiting for another creature to pop out of the ground. "It looked like it just, dissipated, didn't it? Like a shadow..."

"Blehh." said Lina, looking at the spot where it had been. "Those eyes are freaky."

Snow nodded, slightly out of breath. "Yeah, definitely. Like predator's eyes. Lion or something…just really scary."

"Not even a lion. Lions have personalities and souls. That _thing_ looked like it _ate_ souls." She shuddered, thinking of what would have happened to Snow if she hadn't come.

Snow shivered with sympathy. "I hope I can protect us until you're more comfortable with your magic…"

Suddenly, Snow's backpack burst to life again with a song from his library:

"_No! I won't let them take you, won't let them take you! Hell no, no, noooo I won't let them take you…"_

It was as if the music player had stolen the thoughts right from Snow's head. He had been thinking something _very_ similar. His entire face turned fire engine red, as he fumbled with the switch to try and turn off the music. After a while, it stopped on its own, without his help.

He looked sheepishly to Lina, still blushing. "It does that...ever since this morning"

"Cool. I think I would go crazy if I couldn't hear music. I like the song, too. Say Anything, right?" said Lina, looking down a bit with her ears turning red, noting the interesting song "choice" of the backpack.

"Yep, Alive with the Glory…" he said smiling, happy that she liked his music. " I just put that on yesterday, when we had electricity."

Snow reached into his backpack and brought out a bag of _Pretzelz_, his favorite snack. He ate a few and offered them to Lina saying, "Those soulless, heartless things…They're not from around here, are they? GOSH! Why doesn't anything make sense anymore?"

"Oooo-haven't had these in a while, thanks." Lina said, taking a few Pretzelz. "I just don't know either."

They then ate in silence for a moment, not really wanting to consider why the music player had delivered that _particular _message.

Trying to break the silence, but struggling to overcome the pounding of his heart, Snow said simply, "So…do we keep moving on?" shoving the leftover Pretzelz back into his backpack.

Still munching on the last of her snack Lina replied, "You're still playing leader, and it's not like I have a better idea. This whole 'no one else around' thing is spooking me. I mean, where did they all go?"

"You know what I think? I think-" Snow was cut off by another interruption from his music player:

"_You're beautiful…You're beautiful…It's true!"_

Fighting the lump in his throat, he tried to remember what he was going to say. Of course, the song lyrics perfectly matched what he was _thinking_...but he wanted to finish his sentence.

"N-never mind; let's just keep going to the school I guess."

A bit taken aback and puzzled by this latest musical outburst, Lina replied "You probably know best. I _was_ sent to _you_…Somehow…"

Nodding sheepishly and almost recovered from blushing again, Snow picked up his backpack to continue on their journey. He must have forgotten to zipper it closed because the contents spilled out behind him all over the dusty sidewalk in front of Lina.

Before Snow even had a chance to react, Lina stooped next to the bag saying, "Oh man, let me help you pick all that up."

To herself, she thought: _All sorts of papers and stuff? Hmmm what's this?_ She picked up a black spiral notebook and hid it behind her back so Snow wouldn't see it. _This looks interesting…_

"Thanks a lot; I forgot I brought all this junk with me. Mostly clothes and food…" Snow trailed off as he put his backpack over his shoulder, picked up his shield and said "Let's get walking now. I don't want to stay in one place too long in case the shadows come back"

"Sure" Lina said, not really paying attention to Snow. She was busy studying the notebook, which had a stylized drawing of a heart with a band-aid on it. She walked a bit behind Snow, opened the notebook, and began to read.

_Looks like poetry or songs or something. Favorites? Or ones he wrote?_ Lina wondered, turning page after page. Each was completely filled with long poems, mostly about love and loss. One in particular caught her eye:

_So Far from My HEART: _

_(Whispered): I don't know why I write these songs for you, cuz you'll probably never hear them... _

_You're so near in my eyes  
but so far from my Heart  
You're so, so far  
I don't know where to start  
I try to speak up by my words must get drowned out _

_I really miss you  
I miss you too much  
I'm just longing for some kind  
of sweet human touch _

_I don't know where you all learned this stuff  
just tryin' to follow is way too tough for me  
my best isn't nearly good enough,  
I never really know what to say to you _

_Something must have gone wrong,  
when I was growing up,  
I never learned what's what,  
I missed so much  
and its all from the pain I had  
you'll never understand... _

_I really miss you  
I miss you too much  
I'm just longing for some kind  
of sweet human touch _

_You're still so far  
but they say "So far, so good",  
and I if knew what to say  
would I, could I, or should  
I still say it? _

_Here's some more facts I really need to know,  
they're gonna to crush my fake reality  
is your heart even free?  
Am I just a lost cause? _

_Does your very soul quake  
like mine does for you,  
when I hear your name?  
Or see your beautiful face? _

_Are you sitting at home,  
Just like me-- shaking inside,  
not knowing what to do  
like when I'm thinking of you?_

When she finished reading, she was amazed at how much it affected her. _My gosh, he's amazing! I should ask him who it's about._ As the thought crossed her mind, she noticed some fancy calligraphy at the bottom of the page. She struggled to read it for a minute, before realizing that it spelled out **her **name!

"No way!" Lina exclaimed, not realizing she said it out loud. She started to turn red again, both embarrassed and extremely flattered to think that anyone would write something so beautiful for her. She wasnt sure _what_ to think.

Snow whirled around to see what was wrong, and he spotted the black notebook open in Lina's hands, and Lina turning cherry red.

"Oh, man…Oh man, oh man. You weren't supposed to read those!" Olly Snow's legs seemed to give out beneath him and he fell to his knees on the sidewalk, head staring down defeatedly at the ground in front of him. Tears fell slowly from his face and pooled on the ground in front of him as he was wracked with sobs. "So now you know just how _crazy _I really am. Go ahead. Call me a freak or a stalker, or whatever. I probably deserve it, but just give me back the notebook and don't read any more. I poured out my heart into those, and no one was supposed to know!"

Keeping his head down, he thrusts up one hand to take back the notebook, but Lina didnt give it up just yet. She danced away and turned the page to read more:

_Stuck on Repeat_

_My music won't play loud enough_

_To completely drown you out_

_You're ringin in my head_

_The sound from a blown out amplifier_

_Like everything you've said_

_-_

_I can't hear anyone but you_

_So keep singin for me please_

_You're the background music,_

_The chorus that keeps me alive!_

_-_

_Now I'm stuck on repeat_

_Spinning the track of my life_

_Over and over again_

_I wanna hit fast-forward,_

_So I can be with you._

_That, or some time on re-wind,_

_To bring all my chances back again..._

Closing the notebook, she called softly to him, "Olly…Olly Snow…"

Snow still refused to look up from the ground, so Lina lightly placed his notebook back in his hand. She then gently tilted his head up with her hand, so he would look her in the eyes again and get up.

_What happens now? _Snow thought to himself as he stood up clutching the notebook to his chest and wiping a single tear from his eye, face to face and _very_ close to Lina...

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**Co-authored by Ms. Lovett and DrIce**


	5. Safe Passage?

**A/N: Sorry for the delay folks…AP calculus is a killer, trust me. I also decided to split my original chapter 5 into two parts. This is the first of them, and the second _should_ be up by the end of the week. Thanks for waiting, and enjoy the rest of the show…**

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CHAPTER 5

Standing close, Snow and Lina stare into each others eyes for what seems like an eternity. "Lina, I…its just…"he sighs and looks down again, shoulders slumped forward.

_There's no reason to expect anything back_ Snow thought sadly._ I've loved her from afar for long enough to know that, but sometimes I just wish…_

Lina put a comforting hand on his shoulder and he lifted his head to look at her again. The few white strands of hair fell across his face again and she brushed them aside. Lina tried to look anywhere but Snow's eyes, afraid that if she did he would see that she…what? That she...didn't like him back as much at that moment as he loved her, and that she would break his heart. _He is so sweet and funny...and cute...I can't do this to him…_she thought as began to tell him how she felt. This time, it was her turn to stare at the ground.

"Snow... I just-"

BOOOOOOOM! CRASH!

A sudden crack of thunder rattled the windows of the buildings surrounding the two, and Lina yelped. Snow looked around, and noticed that a storm seemed to have rolled in around them. Something didn't seem right about the clouds, however.

"Lina, look at that! Those clouds are wrong, they're too low and too fast." said Snow barely above a whisper while pointing frantically.

"Oh...shit…." murmured Lina, watching large dark drops fall from the clouds.

Snow nods solemnly, shivering. "Oh shit indeed! Those are too big to be rain drops, and too dark. They're like falling shadows!"

Almost in response to Snow, the shadow drops hit the ground and formed slowly into 2 then 4 then 20, then a countless number of those nightmare Heartless creatures.

"Definitely time to go Lina, we'd better run for it." Snow said taking Lina's hand and feeling his face start to flush red again.

_No time for that now, gotta keep her safe!_

The two unlikely adventurers sprinted as fast as they could, holding hands out of necessity more than anything else. Reaffirming their thoughts that they would be safe at the school, the backpack thumped again with a few lines from a mournful rock song:

_Well I want you to know_

_Safe passage to the other side_

_We can provide…_

_So I want you to go_

_Safe passage to the other side_

_We can provide…_

As they made it to the street which houses their school, the army of Heartless had closed in around them in all directions. They slowed down their pace dramatically, so close to their goal, and tried to figure out what to do. As they continued walking, Lina started to shiver violently.

"What's wrong Lina? What's happening to you?" Snow asked nervously, pulling her closer to him. The air around her was very cold, and they could see her breath forming in the air around her.

"I'm so cold… Olly Snow…ha…snow…cold…" she said woozily. Snow looked into her eyes and could tell that _something_ was wrong. She seemed to recover for a short time, a fierce energy radiated from her as she began the preparations for her magic.

"I think you should run away, Snow." said Lina, softly elbowing him away from her. "I'm gonna get them. I don't want to hit you." Lina clenched her hand into a fist and scowled at the shadows that were bobbing and weaving their way toward them. "I'll move out of the way, but I won't leave you Lina…not here, not now…" Snow told her, as he backed away slowly with the words echoing in his heart: _Not ever…I hope…_

Lina pointed the staff at the seething shadows, and a huge blast of cold shot by Snow hitting the Heartless and freezing them where they stood. More shadows swarmed from behind their frozen brethren, and Lina shot bolt after bold of cold at them.

A wall of ice and shadows soon formed in front of the two, with still more Heartless struggling over them. Lina's arm lowered a little more with each bolt and she suddenly collapsed with an exhausted sigh, still valiantly trying to ward off the shadows.

Catching her as she fell, he cried out, "Lina! You have to get up, we have to go, we have to move now! We're so close! Please, don't do this…just a bit more till you're safe."

Lina clenched her cold fists and struggled to her feet, staggering forward, quietly saying "Blaze the trail, right?" all the while grinning weakly at Snow, determination in her eyes.

Taking one of her hands in his, he noticed it covered in glittery frost. He smiled at her saying "Yeah, right, blaze the trail. I'm still playing leader and I say you're gonna be fine. We'll get through this." His eyes darted all around, looking for the easiest way to get past the Heartless. Soon, he settled on that wall of frozen shadows Lina had made.

Taking his shield in his arms like a Frisbee, he hurls it at the wall with all his strength and anger at these monsters. "Lina, you've got to get inside. I'll hold them off as long as I can, until you're safe."

The wall of ice and frozen shadows shattered as the shield hit it, and as soon as there was an opening, Lina half walked, half ran through. She kept right on going until she got to the front doors to the school. She threw open the doors, hurried inside, but stopped and looked back at Snow. He had recovered his shield but was completely surrounded by Heartless. The situation looked pretty bleak for Snow…


	6. Noble Sacrifice?

**A/N: I'm not setting anymore timetables for my new chapters, because I honestly don't know when I'll get them done. Sorry for the wait, here's the newest chapter.**

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Lina stood and watched as the shadows circled Snow like wild animals. As she looked harder to try and see through the seething wall of Heartless, Lina saw that Snow had become hunched over and his breathing had become very ragged. He was stared at the ground for a moment, his entire body heaving. Then, his head snapped up to look at Lina, still in the doorway.

In a harsh voice very unlike his own he growled, "Just go now. I don't want you to see this…" Then he smiled weakly at her before his body started heaving again. He finally stood up in a defensive crouch facing the enemies before him, eyeing them warily. Pulsing rock music burst from the stereo-backpack and Snow seemed to gain a resolute strength he had not shown before as Lina noticed he mouthed the words to the song:

_1, nothing wrong with me_

_2, nothing wrong with me_

_3, nothing wrong with me,_

_1, somethin's got to give_

_2, somethin's got to give_

_3 somethin's got to give_

_Noooooooow!_

_Let the bodies hit the floor_

_Let the bodies hit the floor_

_Let the bodies hit the… flooooooor_

Lina turned and fled deeper into the school to find a way out of this nightmare.

_I feel pretty bad leaving him, but he IS brave. It seemed hopeless out there, they just kept coming!_

"Oh, Olly…When will I see you again?"

She stopped for a moment, composed herself and wiped one silent tear from her silken face. She then continued searching the dimly lit hallways, following the soft ebb of what seemed like candle light, until she found the only room filled with light…

----------Meanwhile, back at the battle zone----------

_Here we go…I can do this…_ he thought with a final spasm racking his body, and he looked over to the school and saw that Lina had indeed gone inside.

_Good, now she'll be safe…somehow…_

With a low growl he shouted, "You know what you Heartless things? You won't take Lina away from me. I'll beat you all. Come and some!" and with that, he launched himself at the nearest shadow swinging his shield around like a madman. The shield bounced of the nearest shadow, and he bashed it again and again as he whirled around and around. The wind whistled across his shield as Snow cut through shadow after shadow, spinning with a tornado force. He bounced from shadow to shadow like a buzz saw, the wind whistling across his shield as Snow cut them all down where they stood, spinning with tornado force. When there were no more visible he stopped, momentarily winded and the song from his backpack petered out and stopped.

Thunder pealed angrily from the sky and Snow threw his eyes skyward and gulping breath after breath of air. A larger drop of shadow rain dropped in front of him and formed into the biggest Heartless he had yet seen.

_Don't they ever stop? Gotta blaze the trail. For her…_

The heartless shook itself off, sending droplets of some sort of liquid shadow all over the street. Grass shriveled and died where the shadows landed, and the street where it stood bubbled beneath the monster. One droplet struck Snow in the chest over his heart and started to burn through his shirt to his skin. Snow clawed at it franticly, but the burning stopped as suddenly as it started, leaving no physical sign it was ever really there. The other droplets that issued from the Giant Heartless turned into miniature Heartless that tried to clamber up Snow's leg, tearing at him with their tiny claws. Snow kicked them off and stomped them, making them disappear.

The giant issued a deep below of rage at the defeat of its comrades, and launched a huge pile-driver fist at Snow. The backpack thumped to life again as Snow barely rolled out of the way and ran around behind the behemoth shadow. Sticking the shield into its back, he climbed up as high as he could and started beating on the shadow with his fists. The monster swayed and clawed around for Snow, but he managed to evade capture. The rubbery oil-like skin burned at his hands but Snow fought hard, seemingly to no effect. He continued dodging and attacking until, exhausted, he lost his grip and fell from the monster. On the way down he crashed into the his shield, still embedded in the monster, bounced off, and dislodged it.

Time seemed to dilate during his fall and while crashing to the ground, the backpack eked out one final line:

_Safe passage to the other side…we can provide…_

The last thing he saw before his head hit the pavement was a blinding ray of sunshine pierce through the head of the Giant Heartless, vanquishing it in a splatter of still more liquid shadow.

Snow hit the ground with a sickening crunch; felt his head start to bleed, and his world went dark.

His shield fell too and curiously embedded itself above his head like a gravestone, marking the fallen warrior…


	7. Friend or Foe?

Lina ran, gasping, into the school, remembering the look Snow gave her as her told her to run. She rammed the doors at full speed, turning around and locking them with one last blast of ice against the shadows that flung themselves against the door. She leaned, panting, against the door until another one of those heartless things thumped against it, scaring her into action as she screamed briefly and sprinted down the corridors of the school, taking no notice of where she was going until she heard a savage yell and pounding footsteps behind her, when she ducked around a corner, suddenly becoming aware of something other than her fears.

_"Oh Damn... where am I?"_ She thought, still listening to the footsteps while trying to form sparks from her palm, muttering "C'mon...C'mon...light, dammit!" She scowled and gave up on using her magic, slid into a defensive stance with both her hands on the staff, ready to meet whatever came...

This turned out to be a young boy who couldn't have been more than 13 or 14, lugging a huge claymore-esque sword and yelling for all he was worth. When he finally stopped running, tripping over his own feet in the process and landing about 5 feet from Lina, she finally got a good look at him. He was about as tall as Lina, though he was a lot skinnier, wearing a pair of black shorts stopping at his shins with red and yellow straps crisscrossing them, and a black T-shirt with an odd design on it very much like a sword sprouting wings with a halo in silver. His auburn hair looked ruffled, like he had just woken up and hadn't had the time to brush it, and it fell into eyes an odd haunting shade of aquamarine. As he picked himself up off the floor, he tried to heft the sword, succeeding in only getting it up to about his knees. He glared at Lina with all the bravado he could master and barked, "Who are you?!? Are you one of those ...things? 'Cause if you are, I'm gonna kill you!" As he tried to lift the sword once more.

Lina, startled, blinked and slid one foot forward and the end of the staff off the ground, ready for a rush, and said confidently "Do I look like one of them? Anyway, if I was, wouldn't I have attacked you already? No offense, but you don't look like much of a threat. I mean, you can't even lift your weapon all the way."

The boy scowled and tried to heft the sword once more, muttering "I can...too...lift...the sword!" and got the point pointed at Lina's face for his efforts, his skinny little arms quaking. He then realized Lina's point, and let the sword's end fall to the cold tile of the floor. He Held one hand out to Lina and said "I'm Jason, Jason Leonid. Nice o meet you...umm, what's your name again?"

Lina Blinked disbelievingly at the boy's sudden mood change, and shook his hand tentatively, saying "I'm Lina Menzet, and aren't you a bit trusting? I mean, you just had a sword pointed at my face!"

Jason looked confusedly at her small, delicate hand in his and frowned "Why shouldn't I be trusting? You're not one of the shadows outside, are you?" He snatched his hand back and grabbed the sword again, demanding, "Are you?"

Lina sighed exasperatedly and said "No, I'm not. Now would you mind telling me where in the building we are? I still don't quite know my way around here that well, especially when it's so dark." She motioned and the semi-darkness surrounding them. Lina frowned, looking around and not recognizing a single thing around them, not even able to find the hallway she had just turned off of. "_I hope Snow's all right...I need to find him_ _and_ _a way out of here. Maybe Jason can come with us...Safety in numbers and that kind of thing,_" She thought, looking around for a door...or, for that matter, a window. All she saw, as far as the hall went in either direction was walls and classrooms with frosted windowpanes in the doors. "Are we...still in the school?" She looked sharply at Jason.

"Of course we are! We're on the third floor, it looks weird. You said you were traveling with someone before, right? Well, let's go find him, before the heart—shadows do. C'mon, this way." He motioned toward a door labeled STAIRS that Lina hadn't noticed before.

She Stared, confused, after the boy, wondering, _"Did I really just say that out loud? Am I __that __tired already? Probably, and that's why I didn't notice those stairs. Come __on__, Lina, this isn't some sci-fi movie or a video game_." She trotted after him, mentally berating herself.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, Jason was already at the end of the hall, pushing open a huge door she didn't recognize at all and motioning to her. She followed tiredly, shielding his eyes from the harsh bluish-purple glow coming from beyond the door.


End file.
